According to The Scottsbluff Star-Herald, Mathew Weaver, 49, of Loveland was sitting around a picnic table on the shore of Lake Minatare in Nebraska with two friends. All of the sudden this big cottonwood tree starts making a couple of ‘pop’ sounds, then the tree breaks- snapping at about 10 feet from the ground, and came crashing down on the three of them. From the pictures that the Star Herald has, this is one mighty cottonwood. I don’t know anything about trees, but what fell to the ground, looks like it weighs over 400 pounds.

Mathew Weaver died on the scene. Friend Mark Pennell from Lakewood was critically injured and taken to the hospital. According to the Star-Herald, Mark died Tuesday morning from his injuries. The third man, Dan Randall of Nebraska, suffered injuries, but was released from the hospital on Sunday.